So, what’s going on?

I know we haven’t been as active as years past, but we still love us some swimming, and I’m pretty sure we’ll never let this site die. Don’t you worry!

The snark will return…sooner rather than later!

Counting Strokes

One of the most basic ways to find something to do during a longer event is counting strokes.  I don’t count strokes to figure out their distance per stroke, like coaches and swimmers do; frankly, that’s just too much math for me — I count just for fun.

I pick one swimmer from each heat (generally, the top seeded swimmer) and based on their entry time, predict how many strokes it takes them to finish the event.  Seeing the difference between stroke numbers from a swimmer in the first heat and a swimmer in the ninth heat is always interesting.

During the finals of the same event, I pick a swimmer who I kept track of in the preliminary session and once again, count his strokes.  Most of the time the strokes in the final event are lower than in the preliminary event.

This exercise helps make longer events, like the 1500 freestyle, seem much shorter.

Read the Heat Sheets

If there’s one thing I religiously do at swim meets, besides picking out prime seating, is reading my heat sheet.  Why, you may ask?  Because, you can find out a lot about a swimmer from a heat sheet: where they’re from, their age, and their qualifying time.  However, the reason I read my heat sheet is for the cool and unique names of competing swimmers.

I first started this back in 2005 and since then have given away hundreds of imaginary cool points to a slew of unique names.  Some of my all time favorites are Gemma Spofforth, Tobias Work, and Leisel Jones. But the title of coolest name goes to (Swim Aid favorite!) Spindrift Beck, who swims for Texas.

Reading the heat sheet just makes for an interesting meet and familiarizes you with other swimmers, who may be future elitists.

Meet New People

When time allows for it, I like to get up from my seat, walk around the stands, and meet fellow fans.  Most of the people I’ve met in the stands have been friendly and eager to talk about the previous heat and their favorite team or swimmer.  It’s always refreshing to have a conversation about your favorite sport without having to explain what just happened.

I’ve also met a lot of interesting and influential people by getting out of my seat and socializing.  I’ve meet swimmers and their families, photographers, media members, magazine writers, and I’ve even made best friends with people in the stands.

But before jumping out of your seat and finding the nearest person to greet, you should always remain cautious and respectful.  The nearest person to you may be a swimmer who is preparing for their upcoming race, and you wouldn’t want to disrupt them from their preparation.  Or a group of people close by could be a family of a swimmer who is currently racing; interrupting them could cause them to miss an important moment of the race.  I suggest surveying the crowd first before getting up.  I tend to look for people who are already talking to neighbors or are looking around the area for something to do.

I think if I had never gotten out of my seat and socialized, I never would have continued to support the sport.  And I definitely wouldn’t have a couple of my best friends if I just remained in my seat.

People Watch

One of my favorite things to do (and not just at swim meets) is people watching.  I like seeing peoples’ reactions to times, wins, and disputes.  Emotions are always high for competitors during finals, but even more so for their families.  I enjoy scoping out swimmers’ families and watching their reactions while their swimmer is racing.  Their raging emotions pull you in; when their child wins or loses, you almost mirror their emotion.

Apart from watching people in the crowd, I also like to watch swimmers on the deck.  I like to watch how they interact with their coaches, other swimmers, and their fans.  I’ve come to respect swimmers based on their interactions with fellow competitors and fans.

One moment that sticks out in my mind is from 2007 Nationals in Indianapolis.  Dara Torres was making her comeback in the swimming world, and her first race back was the 100-meter freestyle.  I remember the groups of swimmers, professional, national, and age group alike, collecting near the starting blocks, watching her race.  It was inspiring to see how everyone had so much respect for one swimmer.  If I hadn’t been paying attention to the race and crowd, I would have missed that inspiring, timeless moment.

Excerpt from my article ‘Tips to Remain Entertained as a Swimming Fan,’ previously published on SwimmingWorldMagazine.com

1. USA Swimming and Ohio State can’t figure out what they want to call this meet. 2 years ago, it was the Ohio State Grand Prix. This time around it was the Columbus Grand Prix. According to the meet director, the meet will occur again next year. I wonder what it will be called then…

2. Easter weekend is a horrible weekend to have a swim meet. Attendance left much to be desired! I wonder how much money Ohio State lost hosting this meet…

3. This meet seemed like the ugly stepchild of Grand Prix meets. Now, I haven’t been to any other this year, but I can’t imagine any of the others being as ghetto as this one. Never, in my 5 1/2 years of attending/covering grand prix meets have I been to one that didn’t have awards ceremonies…until this past weekend. Blew my mind!

4. I also haven’t been to a meet where SwimStars.org made up approximately 1/3 of attending media.

5. Swimmers in the championship final get a say in the music that is played during the athlete parade to the block. I figured it did when I heard all the heavy hip-hop accompanying Felicia Lee’s events.

6. Speaking of Felicia Lee, she is the leading candidate for immunity here on Swim Aids. We don’t grand that privilege very often, but she is deserving because we love her! BTW, if you see her live, check out her shoe collection. She will soon be rivaling The Lochtenator for flyest kicks on deck.

7. We still love Coach Bob.

8. We became Markus Rogan fans during the Athens Games and this was our first time seeing him in person. We’re still fans

9. There were a lot of awesome swimming-related vanity license plates on hand for this meet.

10. We really, really, really miss Kaitlin Sandeno.

11. McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion is still the best indoor facility I’ve been to.

12. If we had the $$$, one of us would go to the Charlotte UltraSwim meet. We hear that everyone and their mama will compete there (because of all the prize money), so it will be the complete opposite of the Columbus Grand Prix.

13. Countdown is on for Irvine 2010. Be there!

Before anyone jumps down my throat, let me explain why I would ask such a question…

Here are Bob’s words:

“That would be my recommendation to him, not to swim internationally. The mess needs to be stopped right now. It can’t go any further.”

Ok, but I’m still a little confused. Does he mean that he won’t swim in any international meets until the ban starts (April/May 2010) or any international meets until FINA deals with all the WRs being set in the super suits? Because it makes a difference.

First of all, Mike probably wouldn’t have done anything international before May anyway. He doesn’t do the World Cup Circuit and he doesn’t really concentrate much on the SC season enough to want to qualify and compete at their World Championships in Dubai. Those are in December 2010 anyway.

So, the next international FINA meet MP would possibly swim in would be Pan Pacs, held in Irvine, CA next August.

So really, what does Bob’s threat mean? From the looks of it, Mike wouldn’t have been doing an international meet before the ban went into effect anyway. I don’t see what he’d be missing. That is, unless this year was the year he was planning to fully commit to doing the World Cup Circuit. I guess that’s a possibility.

But if Bob was referring to not swimming internationally until the rewriting of the record books is dealt with, that could be a significantly longer boycott. I’m pretty sure this isn’t what he’s talking about, but on the off-chance that it is, I thought I’d put it out there. He wants immediate action and probably isn’t going to get it.

So, as you can see I’m quite confused. Anyone care to drop some knowledge on the situation? It’d be greatly appreciated!

First we had to mentally deal with the breakup of The Hoff and our favorite coach, Paul Yetter. I’m not sure we’ve fully recovered from that. Now Swimming World Magazine informs us that Paul may soon be announced as an assistant coach at Auburn University.

I mean, we always figured it was only a matter of time before Paul headed to the collegiate ranks, but we didn’t think it would be now. Nor did we think it would be Auburn. Nothing against Auburn. Just not the place I thought he’d head for the first NCAA job. Then again, as long as he’ll be able to put a disco ball on his porch, and he is allowed to run up and down the pool deck, I think he’ll be aight. That, and he’d better continue showing up at some of the meets the Swim Aids attend. ‘Cuz if not, there’s gonna be a fight!

And since I found out about this, initially, from Miss Felicia Lee on Twitter, I began to think about the NBAC kids. We’ve grown quite fond of that group over the years. It’s not rare for young age group swimmers to relocate in order to train with him. I wonder how this affects his Senior Elite group.

Plus, and I’m not sure if has anything to do with how well I get along with Paul or if it’s mostly about talent, I wonder if I won’t suddenly welcome more Auburn swimmers to the Swim Stars Network. Paul has a not-so-subtle way of suggesting new swimmers for me to add to the site. Be it emails about so-and-so setting a NAG, or simply talking up someone heavily at a meet. (We are pretty much BFF’s when it comes to being at the same meet at the same time) So, if he’s coaching Auburn swimmers, I guess that’s who he’ll be pimpin’, right? Something to keep an eye on!

So, if this does go down, we wish Paul the best with his new position. It signals the end of an era fa sho, though! I look forward to seeing him in March 2010 for Men’s NCAAs, which will be right here in my hometown. But that better not be the next time I see him, or another fight will ensue. Just sayin’.

The Big Ten Network aired the 2009 Women’s Big Ten Swimming & Diving Championships over the weekend. Naturally I tuned in, because it isn’t every day that swimming appears on TV. I’ll take what I can get, yo.

I only caught the last 15 minutes of the initial airing and immediately recognized a familiar voice. It belonged to Miss Kaitlin Sandeno! I’m glad she’s up in the booth using her knowledge, experience, and awesome personality to call and analyze races. It’s a breath of fresh air!

And yes, she did a great job. I hope she does more events, but only if she also gets some TV hosting gigs. This girl needs to be on TV, in front of a camera. We, the tv viewing public, are being cheated every day that Kaitlin isn’t on TV. Someone please stop the torture!

It was nice of them to include Phelpsi in the ad with Kobe, Tony Hawk, and A-Rod. Also glad to see MP is letting his hair grow…

Regardless of the inclusion of swimming’s biggest name, it’s still Kobe Bryant FTW. Just keepin’ it real. It’s what I do.

You’ll have to talk to the other girls and see if they’re around. They rely on me to do all the posting instead of contributing themselves every now and then. I’m gonna start cracking skulls if they don’t start putting their ‘posting hats’ on from time to time.

I’m serious. I’m crazy. Y’all don’t know me!

Anyway, I’d like to say that I still miss seeing swimming on TV all the time. And I miss everyone else in the sports world caring about swimming as well. BOOOOOO!

Anyway, Golden Goggles nominees are out! Who do we think is going to win?

P.S. Carrie is temporarily excluded from my threats due to the state of South Dakota hating our Swim Aids website. Michigan >>>> South Dakota. Time to transfer, Carrie.

After building up and anticipating these Olympics (since Athens ended), I’m having a hard time dealing with the withdrawals of them being done.

They just can’t be already done. Quick! Someone bring them baaacckk!

I’m encouraged that NBC is so enamoured with Sir Phelps that they have agreed to air the World Champs in Rome (I’m going. No, really. I am!), and the CP Summer Nationals from 2009 – 2011. However, being the skeptical individual I am, I’ll believe it when I see it! And it better not be on at like 1AM like ESPN tried to pull with the 2004 Short Course Worlds from Indy. We’re watching you, NBC!

So, sorry about the tumbleweeds blowing by the blog lately. We can’t help it. We miss the Olympics.

In other site related news, we’ll be upgrading our blog software soon. So, if you visit and everything’s broken that’s probably why; unless Carrie decided to make another post. Jay Kay, Carrie

You know good and well that our Olympic Trials should be in March or April and not July. In fact, all of the team trials for internation competitions should be months in advance, not weeks. Think about the selection meets for the 2007 World Champs, Pan Ams, and WUGs. Those were done properly.

You really ought to work on this. Do the right thing and tell NBC to kiss your ass while you’re at it.

Keepin’ it real in the swimming blogosphere,

The Swim Aids